Favourite places in Singapore

By Thatthep Sae-Lim. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Being back in Singapore again for this exchange year brought back so many memories of when I lived there throughout secondary school. I was able to go to many of my favourite places with my best friends again during my exchange and I will be sharing them in this blog.

As someone who had lived accumulatively six years in Singapore, I found myself visiting Marina Bay and Sentosa a lot. If you ever googled where to go in Singapore, these two places are definitely on the list.

Marina Bay

Marina Bay is a man-made bay located in the centre of Singapore. It is where Marina Bay Sand (MBS), aka the hotel with a boat on top of the three buildings. This is essentially the highlight of Singapore.

I personally find walking around Marina Bay very relaxing and therapeutic. It is one of those places where you will never be bored of. One thing that I really like to do while walking around this area is to take pictures of MBS from different angles and locations.

If you walk a bit further from MBS, you will find yourself at Garden by the Bay (GBTB). GBTB consists of two air-conditioned indoor garden domes and the outdoor areas with the iconic supertrees. I have been inside the domes once or twice before, but most of the time I’d normally just walk around the free outdoor areas. However, I highly suggest going into the two domes if you have never been in there before.

The last and definitely my most favourite place in this area is the Marina Barrage.

Locals tend to have a picnic and chill out with family and friends here in the evening, especially during the weekends. There are many people who fly kites here as well. I highly recommend you to come here at least once, if you are in Singapore. So far, I think this is the place with the best view of MBS and GBTB too!

Although I’ve never done this before, I suggest you to walk or rent a bike and cycle to East Coast Park via the Park Connector Bridge. There is a beach and a hawker centre, with loads of good food, at East Coast Park.

Sentosa

Sentosa is a man-made island, which is highly accessible from Singapore via trains, buses, cable cars, cars, and walk.

Visitors normally start their journey at a mall called VivoCity. This is actually my most favourite mall in Singapore due to its large size and the affordability of the selected stores in the mall. There is also a rooftop at this mall, which allows you to just sit and enjoy the scenery of the sea and Sentosa island. You can even take a high speed ferry to Batam, Indonesia from here!

I always walk to Sentosa. Not only it is free, but you get to enjoy walking next to the sea. It would normally takes around 15-20 minutes. Once you are in the island, you can actually take the train around the island and back to VivoCity for free!

Even though there are many interesting attractions in Sentosa, like the Universal Studios Singapore and the Luge, the beaches are where I most frequent. There are three main beaches in Sentosa: Siloso beach, Tanjong beach, and Palawan beach. I highly suggest either going to one of the many beach clubs or grab some food from VivoCity and have a picnic along the beach.